AP: Don't Hate Romo Because His Girlfriend Chirps

[Faerluna]

http://sports.myway.com/news/09122008/v6805.html

Sep 12, 3:12 AM (ET)

By JIM LITKE


[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Evidence that celebrity girlfriends can be hazardous to a career dates at least as far as Samson and Delilah. On the other hand, a succession of them doesn't appear to have slowed down Derek Jeter. Either way, it's not as if Tony Romo didn't know the tabloids were going to have a field day. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]When the sports and entertainment worlds intersect, there's never enough perspective to go around. Seeing the people blessed with big muscles squiring around the ones who inherited good teeth makes the rest of us flash back to high school. Not always a good thing. So when Jessica Simpson signed off her appearance on "Good Morning America" the other day by taunting Eagles fans that the Cowboys would kick their butts come Monday night, you know what just about everybody who doesn't already hate "America's Team" started thinking: [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]"We are all Eagles fans. Go Philly! And while you're at it, kick Romeo's butt!" [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Fans will recall this isn't the first time Simpson affixed a big "kick-me" sign to her boyfriend's backside. A video of the two canoodling on a sun-splashed beach in Mexico during the Cowboys' playoff bye week last January raised quite a ruckus. And after the Giants went into Dallas and won shortly after, the people who whined Romo should have been studying film instead of starlets had all the proof they needed. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]The New York Post, which hired a Simpson-impersonator at considerable expense and sat her a few rows behind the Cowboys' bench, even crowed: "She must have made the difference - Romo's final drive was stopped short of the end zone." Whatever. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Romo probably wishes Simpson chose her spots a little more carefully - two of the worst clunkers on his impressive resume have come against the Eagles at home. But as we said, he knows it comes with the territory. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]When the subject of Simpson's trash-talking came up Wednesday at his weekly media session, Romo raised his hands in a defensive posture and smiled, good-naturedly letting reporters know his "nothing-personal, just-football" interview policy was still in effect. What he didn't mind discussing was how hard he'd worked during the offseason to stop scampering around the pocket - a condition known as "happy feet" - every time a defense brings pressure. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]That's because Romo knows that his improvement in that department will have a lot more to do with the Cowboys' performance against Philly than all the jinxes in the world. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson is a certified genius at blitzing. We're going to find out whether the kid really did his homework, whether he's able to handle distractions a lot more perilous than any Simpson can cause him. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]"They're not going to let you go through your stuff," Romo said about the Eagles earlier in the week. "You've got to work fast. Teams that do that also give you a chance to create big plays if you know their personnel or if you know what they're trying to hope for." [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Romo came into the league with a gunslinger's mentality and way too often, he took that pressure as an invitation to scramble - with mixed results. Now, with a little seasoning, he's hoping to exploit it, not just by standing in the pocket longer, but standing farther back, and buying himself more time to make his reads and make better plays. Just like the playoff loss to the Giants and the two against the Eagles at home, his success will hinge in large part on whether Romo's offensive line and running backs do their jobs, too. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]One of his prime weapons, wideout and widemouth Terrell Owens, wasn't above throwing a dart Philly's way, saying that while he's willing to acknowledge that Donovan McNabb made him a better receiver during the time with the Eagles, "I think Donovan would have a hard time admitting I made him a better quarterback." [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Owens also said his popularity with Eagles fans ruffled McNabb's feathers, then answered a question about the shift of power in the NFC East from Philadelphia to Dallas this way: "The common denominator was me being in both places, but I will let you make that assessment." [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Perhaps because he's got some skin - his own - in the game, Eagles fans haven't lit up the boards at the talk radio stations to rip T.O. the way they did Simpson. Maybe they figure the Eagles' defense will take care of that; Philly, after all, is the same place that cheered long and loud when Michael Irvin, another trash-talking Cowboy receiver, lay on the turf after getting knocked down and had to be stretchered off. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]If fans needed another reminder to be careful what they wish for, here it is: The NFL is getting faster and tougher by the year, and injuries are piling up at an alarming rate. Three quarterbacks went down on the opening weekend, following a 2007 season in which 64 QBs started games, exactly half of them because of injuries. According to research by STATS, those injuries cost teams a collective 133 man-games. [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]More backup QBs mean more limited offenses, which means more boring football for everybody. So just because Romo's girlfriend likes to chirp is no reason to be a hater. Besides, Tom Brady's girlfriend, Gisele Bundchen, was the very supermodel of discretion, and look at what good it did him. [/FONT]


[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]---= [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,sans-serif]Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org[/FONT]

 

[FCBarca]

How about instead we despise the idea of a dumb bimbo getting so much media coverage?

 

[dallasmadness]

Knowing this is a divisional game miss "chicken of the sea" should have kept her mouth shut. It is unfortunate that she is talking thrash. Eagles do not need any additional locker room material for this game. She is very clingy and desperate for attention that she is associating herself to the Dallas Cowboys.

I want to see her root for the cowboys after Romo dumps her ***. She is a fake.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[superpunk]

I think I'm too intelligent to comprehend this article.

 

[Doomsday101]

I don't care what she has to say just like any other fan who talks trash. What she says will have no effect on the game what so ever.

 

[vta]

Good Lord...
Now people are afraid they'll need more ambition to do their job.

I'll take the good old days when guys called the other teams ugly and made fun of them, looking forward to pummeling their angry *****, with out fear.

"I'm eskared..."

 

[sacowboysfan513]

I don't care what she has to say just like any other fan who talks trash. What she says will have no effect on the game what so ever.

Exactly.

And IMO The whole bulletin board material thing is kind of a lame argument, regardless of whether it is a fan or a player talking smack.

To say that a team will come out fired up because of what was said prior to the game does not mean they will play any better. They still have to execute plays. They still have to properly tackle, catch the ball, block, etc.

If the eagles play well, it will because they are a good team and prepared well for the game, not because of what pacman, t.o. or jessica simpson said.

 

[Doomsday101]

Exactly.

And IMO The whole bulletin board material thing is kind of a lame argument, regardless of whether it is a fan or a player talking smack.

To say that a team will come out fired up because of what was said prior to the game does not mean they will play any better. They still have to execute plays. They still have to properly tackle, catch the ball, block, etc.

If the eagles play well, it will because they are a good team and prepared well for the game, not because of what pacman, t.o. or jessica simpson said.

No doubt about it. Words never won a game. Philly will be pumped because they are playing the Cowboys and the Boys will be pumped for Philly. It comes down to the same thing is does in every game which team goes out and executes their game plan and who makes fewer mistakes. That will determine the winner as it always does.

 

[Ring Leader]

"Philly, after all, is the same place that cheered long and loud when Michael Irvin, another trash-talking Cowboy receiver, lay on the turf after getting knocked down and had to be stretchered off."

It was "far more" than getting knocked down and streetchered off. These subhumans were hoping for, cheering for, and almost got a quadriplegic in the making.

Calling it a "knocking down" to justify the nearly orgasmic filthy fan frenzy is simply pathetic.

 

[Chief]

I have a question about the bulletin board phenomenon

If it doesn't work or have any effect, then why do coaches still do this?

There was a report that Tom Coughlin put something up about the Cowboys recently. They're the defending Super Bowl champs, and he's already taping stuff to the wall to fire up his boys.

If there's nothing to it, then why do so many coaches continue this practice?

I'll try to answer it. Most of the coaches I've known are paranoid. They tend to worry about everything. They're always looking for an edge, even if there is no proof that whatever they're trying to do, will give them an edge. They say they don't read the papers, but they jump out of their chairs when the PR guy brings an article to them.

 

[djmajestik]

No doubt about it. Words never won a game. Philly will be pumped because they are playing the Cowboys and the Boys will be pumped for Philly. It comes down to the same thing is does in every game which team goes out and executes their game plan and who makes fewer mistakes. That will determine the winner as it always does.

If pickle juice can win a game, can't the same be said about words

 

[Idgit]

I think I'm too intelligent to comprehend this article.

DaBoys4Life, can we maybe get a translation?

 

[Doomsday101]

I have a question about the bulletin board phenomenon

If it doesn't work or have any effect, then why do coaches still do this?

There was a report that Tom Coughlin put something up about the Cowboys recently. They're the defending Super Bowl champs, and he's already taping stuff to the wall to fire up his boys.

If there's nothing to it, then why do so many coaches continue this practice?

I'll try to answer it. Most of the coaches I've known are paranoid. They tend to worry about everything. They're always looking for an edge, even if there is no proof that whatever they're trying to do, will give them an edge. They say they don't read the papers, but they jump out of their chairs when the PR guy brings an article to them.

That stuff tends to play a role during the week leading up to the game as teams practice and it helps to maintain a focus but once the game is underway players are focused on the job at hand not what someone said.

 

[JackMagist]

DaBoys4Life, can we maybe get a translation?

:laugh2:

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Didn't even read the article, but Hugh Douglas was on 103.3 with Mosley earlier, and he really does think that Romo is too much of a celebrity and that Jessica is a distraction to him. He even said something about Carrie being at Seattle during the fumbled FG (as erroneous as that is).

Mosley finally stopped him and said, "Wait, you're not being funny? You really think these girls affect him on the field at all?" And Douglas really did, and said most people there thought that.

The stupidity in Philly is amazing.